Cob: cob life- salvage

[Melanie Kleiner]

There is a salvage guy about 20 miles from us and he takes down old houses
for a living.  I went and visited him and he says his lumber is priced
pretty much half of what Menards would be. 
Also we got a sink one time by going up to a house that was being torn down
and asking the people taking it down if anything was available in there.  
We do have a friend in the junk business who gave us a heads up on that one.
 But talk to salvage yards,etc.  Also sometimes houses are advertised to be
ripped down.  I saw some pictures of cob houses that used some used car
windows too.  That's why it intrigues me so much- it is so creative!
-------Original Message-------

From: Laura Mitchell-Woolson
Date: Friday, September 27, 2002 05:24:02 PM
To: coblist at deatech.com
Subject: Re: Cob: cob life - how do they do it?

Angy,
I love your name; whenever I see it in my email program I always think it
says Angry Violet, which I think is also pretty cool. : )
One way I think people keep costs down is by using scavenged hardware, etc
from building sites that are getting torn down. I hear about people using
these materials but I’m always a bit baffled about how they hear about the
places that are going to be demolished and how they get in the buildings to
get stuff. Is this middle of the night raids like dumpster diving? Do you
buy it from a middle-man? Do you have to know someone in the building trades
who knows what buildings are getting wrecked and if the professional
scavengers have been through already? Seems like there’s lots of cool stuff
out there waiting to be taken or bought cheap, but how?
Laura Mitchell


On 9/27/02 2:35 PM, "Angy Violet" <angyygna at yahoo.com> wrote:


So cob is supposed to be super efficient and inexpensive, but why does it
seem like it would cost a fortune? Like where do these people find solar
panels, while maintaining their budget? What about water filtering, septic,
lights, you know...? Is it as simple as they say, or does it really take a
big retirement fund to live simply? I have been trying to research as best
as possible, the different details of self sufficiency, but they all seem
reliant on the exchange of money, which is what I want to avoid most if I
drop out of the system!!! If any of my cob friends can help, please do! You
guys are great out there!

Angy




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